NEC renews agreement with Alliance Air for this year

Agartala, Jan 31 (UNI) The North East Council has renewed agreement with domestic carrier Alliance Air to operate in the region for yet another year after consultation with the DoNER Ministry.

NEC officials said here today that the agreement was renewed with the Air India subsidiary following delay in the finalisation of plan to set up a exclusive airline for the region.

The state transport department said the NEC will extend financial support of Rs 38.5 crore to enable operation with four more leased ATR 42-320 aircraft.

In case the carrier fails to provide services for reasons within its control, the subsidy payable to the airline will be deducted on pro rata basis while Alliance Air will need to submit a performance report every quarter giving specific information on cancelled flights with details.

In addition, the airline will also need to apprise the NEC about the capacity utilisation and average passenger loads.

With plans to make Guwahati the operational base for air services in the region, the recently signed MoU makes it imperative for the airline to station at least one aircraft at the airport at night so that early morning flights can take off.

A penalty of Rs 15,000 per night will be imposed in case the airline fails to adhere to this requirement, state Transport Minister Manik Dey said adding that Alliance Air operates 73 flights per week on 17 designated routes covering Kolkata, Silchar, Dimapur, Agartala, Guwahati, Shillong, Tezpur, Jorhat, Aizawl, Lilabari, Dibrugarh and Imphal.